He’s a time traveler … and he’s a mobster. I did not see that combination coming. Pretty sure I’m not alone. Also, I didn’t see myself rooting for the mobster or his hitman friend. Can you Groundhog Day a mob hit? Sure. Why not?
Mob boss Sosa (Keith David) is throwing a party for his son, Jimmy Boy. The latter has just been released from prison. And the tongue-in-cheek chapters of this film are, and I quote: “The Party,” “The After Party,” “The After After Party,” and “The After After After Party.” Gotta love a running gag, huh?
Among the underlings in Sosa’s pile of baddies is loan shark Nick (Vince Vaughn), and his personal leg-breaker, Mike (James Marsden). Mike is at a crossroads. He doesn’t like being an enforcer. He wants out. And he’s having an affair with Nick’s wife, Alice (Eiza González). This could get ugly … except for the part where Nick knows about it and doesn’t seem to care. Nick has got bigger issues.
On the critical night in question, Nick sequesters Mike and gets him to do one last job: chloroform and kidnap the guy in that house there. Sure, ok. Sounds easy enough, right? Except for the part where Mike doesn’t do chloroform, the chloroform has expired and, oh yeah, the guy in the house is Nick (?!) Nick has asked Mike to chloroform Nick. Ok.
Wait. There are two Nicks? Is this an “evil twin” thing? No. It’s really Nick. The guy who got Mike to do this job is “Future Nick,” a version six-months older than present Nick, who has returned to make things right, specifically to help Mike avoid “The Barron,” a cannibal assassin currently targeting Mike. It plays funnier than that sounds. 
James Marsden places a great emphasis on not wishing to be killed and eaten, not necessarily in that order.
Does it matter how Nick has time traveled? Not really.
Does this film adhere to normal time travel rules? More-or-less … and -to its credit- it does discuss time-travel paradoxes, but this isn’t a time travel film as much as it is a mobster comedy, so there’s that.
What this film really has is double doses of Vince Vaughn. If you don’t like single Vaughn, you are sure-as-Hell not going to like him on screen twice, which happens often. Personally, I enjoyed this gimmick and liked Vaughn better here than in most of the films where there is only one of him. I’m not sure I ever buy James Marsden as a hitman or a leg-breaker. It’s like trying to buy Michael J. Fox as a longshoreman. But he’s having fun here, as is the rest of the cast. Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is little more than a popcorn film; I’m good with that. Popcorn films are underrated.
There was once a loan shark named Nick
Who stumbled upon an oh-so-neat trick
He went back in time
To undo a crime
Now there’s two of him, hey, pretty slick
Rated R, 107 Minutes
Director: BenDavid Grabinski
Writer: BenDavid Grabinski
Genre: Light-hearted mobster stuff
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Vince Vaughn fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who don’t see the lighter side of gangster crime
